In this week's episode we will be kicking off our Special Series during the month of August. Month of Awareness: Social Media Predators we will be discussing "Somebody's Watching Me!". Scriptures: Matthew 7:14-16, Jeremiah 29:11, Mark 4:22
Teen Bible Study Taught 'N Ten Minutes
Month of Awareness: Social Media Predators (Somebody's Watching Me!)
"Yeah, come on, it's like that, it's like that." Hello and welcome to my young loyal listeners of Teen Bible Study Talk in 10 minutes. So what do you know? Word on the go. This podcast is brought to you by and produced by Real Talk with the Bennett, where real talk happens all the time. I'm your host, Minister Bennett of today's episode, and my co-host is the lovely sister Bennett as my husband affectionately calls me. Thank you for allowing and trusting us to be a part of your Christian walk. This week's episode, we will be kicking off our special series during a month of August that is always produced by the lovely sister Bennett. And for this year, we're going to talk about the month of awareness. And in this week's episode, social media predators, somebody's watching me according to God's Word. We are back live in the P&T podcast studio with another great lesson for another great week. And you guys are in for a treat this month since the Bennett has put out another banging series on the month of awareness. But in this specific week, we're going to talk about social media predators. Yep, you guys guessed it. Well, anyway, as we get close to the start of the new and upcoming school year, we got to thinking, well, actually sister Bennett got to thinking, how can we adequately prepare our young loyal listeners through God's Word to be better prepared for the advancements in social media scams and cyber stalking and attacks, right? She has this vision. She has this passion for youth. Let me read the scripture and get out the way and let her kick it off like she always does in the grand style. Matthew 7, 14 through 16, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And only a few find it true and false prophets watch out for false prophets. They come to you and sheeps clothe them, but annually they are ferocious wolves by their food. You will recognize them. Matthew 7, 14 through 16, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And only a few find it true and false prophets. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you and sheeps clothe them, but annually they are ferocious wolves by their fruit. You will recognize them to people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. Thank you for the kick, Minister Bennett. Hello, our young loyal listeners and parents. We know that sometimes your age group can be a little, okay, very strong willed and you may not listen to your parents, but prayerfully, you'll listen in this month and realize that what we discuss your parents have already told you and they honestly want the best for you. Just like Jesus said to the captives in Jeremiah, because faces, some of you feel like your parents have put you in a prison. Verse 29, 11 reads, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord. "Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. Most parents want the same thing for you. They want you to live a life of peace, nothing evil coming your way and have a future filled with hope." So stop, come on guys, stop giving them a hard time, they truly want the best for you. So now, let's talk about what you young people love so much, social media. While your parents may have placed some boundaries or criterion on which site you should and should not visit, we know y'all get real slick and fine ways to not listen. What we want you to understand is that while you may be able to get around your parents' rules, and there are people, predators out there that wait for you to not listen to your parents, and they'll say negative things about your parents and go along with you and feed off of your negative words. They are way more smarter and very crafty. These predators can manipulate you to do things you never imagined yourself, that you would do yourself. Things like formum relationships with strangers, a person you've never, never seen or met. Camera is never on, but because they say the right things that make you feel important, handsome or beautiful, you find yourself sending new pictures to this stranger. Who by the way, once again, is a predator and is more than likely sending and sharing your picture with other predators. You find yourself sharing your location with a total stranger, not a stranger, a predator. When you do this, best believe you'll start to feel like somebody is watching you because sometimes they are. They are called predators for a reason. They study you, they study your schedule, they follow you on social media platforms so that they know what you have going on in your life and how they can become a part of it. They are very crafty. Oh, and let's not get it twisted. These predators hide behind all different platforms, especially chat rooms, no faces, but have been watching the way you talk and interact and they can mimic those characteristics to make you think that you are talking to someone who is around your same age. So be wise our young loyal listeners in all things. And just I want to throw out a statistics that the FBI have shown us, that there are an estimated 500,000 online predators active every day. Children between the ages of 12 and 15 are especially susceptible to be groomed or manipulated by adults they meet online. According to the FBI, over 50% of the victims online are sexual exploiters. And they are between, and they like to exploit the children that are between the ages of 12 and 15. So we really, really need to be careful and we really want you guys to stay alert. All right. Well, that's it for this week. I'm going to pass it on to Minister Bennett. I know I didn't let him get a word in as well, age wise, but I'm going to let him go ahead and speak now. Wow, and wow again is all I can say, where you not blessed by that lesson that sister Bennett put on regarding this month of awareness on social media predators. That was so powerful and spot on in a time such as this. Let me back that up with another scripture, but let me attempt to anyway, well God's word can do it, but she said something so profound. You talked about listening to your parents, hiding from your parents and going behind their backs. So, you know, it's one of those things where if you know the difference between there's discipline and then there's integrity and obedience, right? So, you know, all these things kind of go together. When we talk about integrity, which is huge, it means to be able to self discipline yourself when no one is looking. It's easy to do the right thing or to restrain yourself when someone is there with you and watching you. But can you have that same restraint and discipline when no one is there because you find yourself at home by yourself because your parents work or you do find yourself home for a short while after school or even before school. So, you take that opportunity and do something you shouldn't, but I'm not going, I'm not going to redo that lesson all over again since the Bennett did a great job, but you guys know how I love to allow God's word to speak for itself. So, that's what I'm going to do to close out this lesson, Mark 421 and 22 says this, also he said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put or set on a lamp stand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret, but that it should come to light." So, simply put, God is everywhere. God is omnipresent. So, there's no place you can go and hide from God. So, no matter what you do, God is watching, and more importantly, whatever you do in darkness or in secret, will come to light so your parents will find out, your lovers will find out what you do. So, I say this, just stop, period, in summary, there are points of knowing we don't have to go it alone. We have a Savior named Jesus Christ, I will close with this and a quote, "Predators are everywhere, in the open, in the shadows, in your neighborhoods, in your schools, and most importantly, as you've learned from this lesson, they are also online and waiting for you." Don't be arrogant and feel as if you are way smarter and you can handle yourself, because you can't. Don't lock out those that can help keep you safe. The predator wants your silence, it feeds their power, entitlement, and they want it to feed your shame. By all the Davids. As always, please don't forget to subscribe and share, so that you and your friends will get all future notifications when new and exciting episodes are uploaded and posted. Until next time, stay safe and live a life wholly and acceptable to God, after all, it's your reasonable service. With a special thank you to L.J. Productions for post-production's editing techniques was used for this podcast. This podcast was sponsored by the Body of Christ Church in Waldorf, Maryland, Pastor Kinefi's student, Christian Education Ministry, and association with Real Time with the Bennett. A real talk, what? You got it. Happens all the time. Yeah. It's like that. It's like that!